David McGreavy: Difference between revisions - Wikipedia

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{{Short description|English murderer}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{moreBLP citations neededsources|date=June 2019}}

{{Infobox criminal

| name = David McGreavy

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| caption = McGreavy in the 1970s

| alias = "The Monster of Worcester", <br />"The Real Friday the 13th Killer"

| birthname = David Anthony McGreavy

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1951}}

| birth_place = [[Southport]], [[Lancashire]], [[England]]

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| conviction_status = [[Paroled]]<ref name="BBC041218">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-46437471|title=David McGreavy: Triple child killer cleared for release|work=BBC News|date=4 December 2018|access-date=4 December 2018}}</ref>

| date = 13 April 1973

| victims = Paul Ralph, 4<br />Dawn Ralph, 2<br />Samantha Ralph, 9 months3

| locations = [[Worcester, England]]

}}

'''David Anthony McGreavy''' (born is1951), analso Englishknown convictedas murderer'''The whoMonster inof aWorcester''' drunkenor rage'''The killedReal three[[Friday children,the aged13th]] fourKiller''', two andis ninean months,English inconvicted thetriple [[Unitedmurderer Kingdom]]who killed and dismembered his friend's three children in 1973. He was in the news in 2013 when an [[gag order#United Kingdom|anonymity order]] imposed in 2009 was lifted based on findings that there was a public interest in his application for parole and that there was no immediate danger to his life. He was held in a vulnerable prisoners' unit, where he spent most of his 40 years in prison until he was released on parole in December 2018.<ref name=Guardian52213>{{cite news|title=Triple child killer David McGreavy can be named, high court judges rule: Judges revoke 'mistaken' gagging order about coverage of long-serving UK prisoner's parole application|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/may/22/triple-child-killer-david-mcgreavy-named|accessdate=May 22, 2013|newspaper=The Guardian|date=May 22, 2013|author=Alan Travis}}</ref>

==Early life==

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==Ralph family==

In 1972, unable to live with his parents, McGreavy began boarding with his friend, Clive Kenneth Ralph, and his wife, Dorothy Elsie (''née'' Clay), and their two small children, Paul Kenneth (born 20 November 1968) and Dawn Maria (born 25 April 1971). Clive and Elsie had been school friends, and there was a five-year age difference between them; they had married in September 1968 when Elsie was 16 and pregnant with Paul. They lived on Gillam Street in the Rainbow Hill district of [[Worcester, England|Worcester]]. At the time McGreavy moved in, Elsie was pregnant with the Ralphs' third child, Samantha Jane, who was born inon September14 July 1972.<ref name=MirrorReporter /><ref name=dinenage /><ref name=SundayTimes>{{cite news|title=Time Will Not Heal: The Children In This Picture Were Murdered Nearly Four Decades Ago. Our Writer Meets Mothers Whose Lives Have Been Left In Pieces. |url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:CIEIF4VVduEJ:www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/Magazine/Interviews/article772075.ece&hl=en&gl=us&strip=1 |accessdateaccess-date=May 8, 2015 |newspaper=The Sunday Times (UK) |date=September 18, 2011 |author=Amy Turner }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

Elsie Ralph (who later remarried and has gone by the names "Elsie Urry" or "Dorothy Urry") recalled in a television interview many years later that McGreavy held a factory job. He paid £6 per week for rent, as well as sometimes cooking Sunday dinner. Although newspapers reported in 1973 that McGreavy and Elsie had had an affair, Elsie has denied this.<ref name=MirrorReporter /><ref name=dinenage /><ref name=SundayTimes />

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==Murders==

On Friday, 13 April 1973, Elsie Ralph was picked up from work by Clive, who had left home late, with the children all asleep. Clive would usually pick her up late in order to help her with closing, and to have a last pint. When the Ralphs arrived at their home, they discovered the policechildren wereand McGreavy, missing. They also saw what appeared to be blood spattering alreadyon therewalls and escortedthe home in disarray. They themdrove to the policeWorcester station,Police whereStation and reported what they had discovered. Police responded to the home and commenced a search of the home and area. The three children’s bodies were tolddiscovered within the hour during a canine sweep of theirthe children'srear murdergardens.<ref name=dinenage /><refThe name=SundayTimesRalph’s />were told of the gruesome discovery at the police station where they had remained during the initial police response and search.

McGreavy, who was known to be a habitual drinker with a violent temper when inebriated, had gone to the nearby Vauxhall pub on Astwood Road (now Balti Mahal curryhouse) earlier that evening with a friend, where he drank {{convert|5|to|7|imppt|spell=in}} of beer. The two men had played cards and darts, though a small altercation took place prior to leaving the pub, after McGreavy had put a cigarette out in his friend's beer. Clive had picked McGreavy up from the Vauxhall and brought him home to look after the children while Clive went to get Elsie from work.<ref name=dinenage />

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Some time between 10:15 and 11:15{{spaces}}pm, a drunk McGreavy became infuriated with the Ralph children, beginning with the baby, Samantha, who had been crying for her [[baby bottle|bottle]]. McGreavy violently killed Samantha and then the other two children, each in a different manner. Eight-month-old Samantha died from a [[skull fracture]], 2-year-old Dawn had her [[throat]] slit and 4-year-old Paul was strangled. After killing the three children, McGreavy went down to the basement and retrieved a [[pickaxe]]. He further mutilated their bodies with the pickaxe before [[impalement|impaling]] the three bodies on the spikes of a [[wrought iron]] fence in a neighbour's yard. He then left the home.<ref name=dinenage /><ref name=Mirror50815>{{cite news|title=The Crazed Lodger Who Slaughtered Three Babes|url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/david-mcgreavy-monster-worcester-sadistic-1903878|accessdate=May 8, 2015|newspaper=Daily Mirror|date=July 17, 1973|author=Paul Connew}}</ref>

McGreavy was arrested by police at 3:50{{spaces}}am, walking on aOmbersley streetRd, nearapproximately the2 Ralphs'miles away from the home, trying to hitch a ride out of town. Upon his arrest, McGreavy reportedly said, "What's this all about?" At first, McGreavy denied any responsibility, but, several hours later said, "It was me, but, it wasn’t me," after which he described in graphic detail what he had done. He told police, "I put my hand over her (Samantha's) mouth, and it went from there. It's all in the house. On Paul, I used a wire. I was going to bury him, but I couldn't. I went outside, and put them on the fence. All I could hear is kids, kids, kids."<ref name=dinenage /><ref name=Mirror50815 /> McGreavy's only explanation for the murders was that the baby would not stop crying.<ref name=Guardian52213 />

On 28 June 1973, McGreavy appeared in court and pleaded guilty to the murders of all three Ralph children. The hearing lasted only eight minutes because McGreavy pleaded guilty and there was no defence plea, no motive, and no case of diminished responsibility.<ref name=dinenage /><ref name=Mirror50815 />

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Due to the brutality of the crime, McGreavy became known as the "Monster of Worcester" and was the subject of substantial press coverage at the time of the crime.<ref name=dinenage /><ref name=Mirror50815 /><ref name=Telegraph52213>{{cite news|title=David McGreavy: Monster of Worcester's crimes shocked a nation|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/10072913/David-McGreavy-Monster-of-Worcesters-crimes-shocked-a-nation.html|accessdate=May 22, 2013|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=May 22, 2013|author=Rosa Silverman and agencies}}</ref> Former editor of the ''[[Sunday Mirror]]'' [[Paul Connew]] was a reporter at the time and had covered the story.<ref name=dinenage /><ref name=Mirror50815 /> Connew has opined that although people remembered the crime, the name of David McGreavy was not well remembered because of the lack of a lengthy court proceeding with the accompanying coverage.<ref name=dinenage />

In 2006, McGreavy again became headline news after he was transferred to an [[open prison]] and allowed to stay in a bail hostel in [[Liverpool]]. ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' newspaper discovered and publicised this arrangement, featuring a front-page photo of McGreavy (released on temporary licence) walking on a Liverpool street, which resulted in McGreavy's transfer back to a [[closed prison]].<ref name=dinenage />

In 2009, an [[gag order#United Kingdom|anonymity order]] was issued by the [[High Court of Justice]] during McGreavy's parole board proceedings. The order was resisted by the British press and the [[Press Association]], supported by the [[Secretary of State for Justice]], who argued that setting such a precedent would prevent coverage of dangerous criminals. The order was lifted on 21 May 2013 by [[Christopher Pitchford|Lord Justice Pitchford]] of the [[Court of Appeal of England and Wales]] and [[Peregrine Simon|Mr Justice Simon]] of the High Court of Justice, based on the importance of the public interest in possible release of a dangerous criminal and lack of imminent danger to McGreavy.<ref>[https://inforrm.wordpress.com/2013/05/29/case-comment-r-m-v-parole-board-no-anonymity-for-convicted-child-killer-edward-craven/ Craven, Edward (May 29, 2013)."Case Comment: R(M) v Parole Board - No Anonymity for Convicted Child Killer" (containing link to High Court published opinion).] inforrm.wordpress.com. Retrieved May 8, 2015.</ref><ref>[http://www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Admin/2013/1360.html ''R (M) v Parole Board'' (2013) EWHC 1360.]</ref> The lifting of the anonymity order brought a fresh round of publicity to the 40-year-old case.<ref name=Guardian52213 /><ref name=Telegraph52213 /><ref>{{cite news|title=Worcester Child Killer David McGreavy Anonymity Lifted|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-22623176|accessdate=May 8, 2015|newspaper=BBC.com|date=May 22, 2013}}</ref>